Working Full Tilt
by Detouredbe
Summary: The title is taken from the 1972 TV adaptation of "The Lorax", but the setting is the 2012 film version. 'Tis simply a look into an AU where the animals actively work to preserve their forest, while at the same time helping their human friend fulfill his ambitions.
1. Chapter 1

**I'll be blunt and start off with the question which fueled this idea by burning my mind: Am I the only one who thinks the animals of the forest could have done something, themselves, to help the Lorax in his cause? It _is_ their home, after all, and they so clearly possess the cognitive potential to take on a much more proactive role than they did. Granted, as an uncle of mine used to say, "The story has to happen," but one of the main functions of a fandom is to allow for deviations in any direction you want. We fans can wipe our brows in gratitude for that!**

**Like a lot of writers, on a lot of subjects, I've mentally reached the end of this idea before having fully built up to it, and am still paving the road leading to that point. It basically concerns the animals, starting with Pipsqueak (logically enough), realizing they could help find a happy medium in the midst of the conflict between the goals of the Lorax and the Once-ler; thus, they begin searching for a diplomatic negotiation. Right now I intend to portray one approach per chapter, so not knowing how many of these approaches there will be, before they reach their solution at the end, I can't really say how long this is going to be, nor how long its completion will take.  
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**In any case, copyrights are those of Dr. Seuss, Universal and Illumination Entertainment.**

"They're chopping the trees again?" Pipsqueak couldn't believe it. "But I thought he said he wouldn't anymore!"

Together with his playmates he had been observing these past few minutes as the Once-ler's brothers began hacking away at the Truffula trees, all the while the Lorax underwent an admittedly comical failed attempt to intervene.

The little Swomee cygnet, Binky,* fluttered over to the Once-ler's tent, in an effort to pick up more details on the sudden change in policy. His tendency to play dumb through expression, though in considerable part valid, was to a degree a self-cultivated tactic for picking up tidbits others might not say around someone who looked keener witted. Of course, with the Once-ler there was the advantage of his moderate skepticism towards the animals' ability to understand what he said; some of the trivial details they'd all learned about him by now were quite surprising.

"Well, what's going on?" Pipsqueak asked when the cygnet returned.

The baby bird shrugged. "Something about his mum being happy."*

This confused both Pipsqueak and the baby Humming fish, Kenny. In their experience happiness was the last thing a mother felt about her offspring breaking promises, but then, the Once-ler's mother, as well as the rest of his family, _had_ evoked a rather unsavoury feeling in all of the animals to-date.

Well, whatever was the reason behind his recalling on his word, the animals soon forgot about it as the Once-ler stepped out with his guitar, playfully singing and dancing around with it for them – or at least, welcoming them into the performance. This song he was playing was fun and quite funny, something about doing what came naturally. Pipsqueak didn't focus so much on the lyrics as he did on his own dancing, but he assumed the human must be bragging about his guitar-playing skills or something like that. What came more naturally to him?

That night, however, the Lorax gathered the animals together, to warn them all of what might happen if too many of the trees were cut down. When some of the animals scoffed at the idea that the Once-ler's family would ever push things so far, he assured them in a grim tone that humans, when bitten by greed, were effectively masters at the art of blinding themselves to or overriding anything which opposed the fulfillment of their goals.

Pipsqueak was certain the Once-ler would not let things get out of hand, but he also knew the Lorax was upset over that broken promise, which was that strictly _no_ more trees would be chopped after that first one. He wished the Once-ler could understand what the animals said to him; maybe if the Lorax couldn't persuade him to honour his commitment, he could?

A wheel shifted in the cub's mind. Wait a moment! When the Once-ler did make that promise, that night, it had been after making eye contact with Pipsqueak for several seconds. The cub unabashedly used his adorable charm to tug on the man's heartstrings, and it apparently worked. Well, maybe all he had to do was go and remind him, no exchange of words required? Yes, that's what he'd do! But in the morning, he knew the Once-ler got very grouchy about being disturbed when he was sleeping.

/

A bit groggily, the Once-ler began his ascent up the ladder to the outhouse on the side of his elaborate tent. Not yet fully awake, but able to comprehend the most basic of actions, he undid his fly when inside, and began to reduce the fluid count of his body.

Pipsqueak, meanwhile, followed his friend up that ladder, having awoken first thing that morning to await the engagement of his mission. Inside, he made his way over and scrambled up onto the bench, wanting to elevate himself so as to better secure the Once-ler's attention. Paws behind his back, he waited patiently, watching the man tend to his biological obligations. Someone must have been really thirsty last night.

As always, Pipsqueak thought the systems the Once-ler had for doing the simplest of things both strange and funny. A lot of them seemed unnecessarily complex, but that made them all the more interesting. So interesting, in fact, that Pipsqueak wanted to give it a shot, ahem, and see what it was like to do this like a human. Like the Once-ler, specifically.

The human was a little less sleepy-headed than he was before, but his lids hadn't really lost weight yet. Glancing over at the little Bar-ba-loot cub who, standing on the side, was now merging his "procedure" with his own, he smiled fondly, before turning his focus back onto the job at hand.

That's when he finally snapped awake.

Yelping, he jumped back, haplessly evolving his startled leap into a startling trip down the ladder. It could have ended much worse than it did, however, and he certainly was glad that none of his family had been outside to utter any wisecracks about him still needing proper training or anything like that.

Aligning his pajamas back into a more acceptable arrangement, he looked up at Pipsqueak, now staring down at him from the edge of the outhouse with a face full of "I'm sorries".

"Ugh, Pipsqueak! Remember when I told Moustache that sleep time is a time to leave people alone?"

Pipsqueak nodded. That was after that first night they all spent together! That had been so much fun!

"Well, the same goes for when someone's... you know, taking care of business!"

Pipsqueak loved the animated motions the Once-ler made with his hands when he was speaking, but use of the word "business", which sprang up from time to time whenever the Once-ler was involved in talk about the trees, or was mentioning that funny thing he'd made from the one he chopped, reminded Pipsqueak of what he was here to do.

Sliding down the side of the ladder, he waddled over to the human, grabbing his paw and tugging with all the strength he could muster.

"Whoa – okay, okay what's this all about?" the Once-ler inquired, amazed that the cub actually managed to pull him over into a position primed for being dragged along the ground, though thankfully that was as far as the endeavour went. When the little cub let go of his hand and scampered a few feet away, pausing to look back at him and urge him to follow, the man complied out of curiosity.

Pipsqueak lead him over to the stump of that first tree, which was still encircled by the stones the Lorax and the animals had placed around it during its funeral. Climbing up onto the stump, he faced the Once-ler and sat back down, donning a baby face which could frost 500 cakes.

"Um, _okay_ – I have no idea what you're doing, Pipsqueak."

Frowning a bit, Pipsqueak tried again. Looking down at the stump, he patted it with his paw, looking hopefully back at the human.

All he got was a quiet chuckle and a reply of, "Well as flattered as I am that you think so, I don't think that stump could seat _both_ of us at the same time!" Though of course, if brought up the human would agree, his posterior was most definitely one to be envied.

Alright, now that language barrier was rearing its ugly head again. Deciding to try the sign language approach, Pipsqueak got up and attempted to imitate the motion of a human chopping a tree with an axe. The result was a clumsy pirouette and a tumble off the side of the tree stump. It didn't hurt the cub, thank goodness, but it also failed to deliver the intended message.

"Hey, you okay, little guy?" The Once-ler picked him up and checked him over lovingly. Okay, maybe now he had him; Pipsqueak tried again. Putting on a mopey expression every bit as cute as that first one, he stared up into the Once-ler's face, ensuring eye contact.

After a moment, the man smiled. "Of course, I know what you're after!" Tickling the cub's tummy, he rose to his feet and said, "I don't have any on me right now, but there's a bunch of them inside. Let's get first dibs before everyone's up!"

Well no, marshmallows weren't the initial aim behind all this, but who was Pipsqueak to complain about an offer like that? As the pair made their way indoors, he decided this just wasn't the right time to make his point.

**AN: It's painfully clear that approach wouldn't work anyway. As I reminded myself to elaborate by way of asterisk, I don't know if the baby swan or the baby fish Pipsqueak and the Lorax are shown playing with were given canonical names or not; no material I've consulted provided anything conclusive. Thereby, for use in this fanfic, these are the names I've labeled them with, just in case there's any further use for them as it progresses; much easier than "the cygnet" and "the baby Humming fish", right? I also improvised a bit on the length of time it took for the Once-ler to go from voicing his justifications to heading outside and starting off the song, "How Bad Can I Be?"; for this story he needs to have remarked on the response he anticipates from his mother, as that's going to play a part in the animals' efforts soon.  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Well, in spite of the hassles standard to the heart of the Christmas season, I managed to get this chapter done before the year was out. Herein, Pipsqueak begins to wonder if the Once-ler is really the right target for protest, after all.**

Seeing as his efforts to persuade the Once-ler weren't going to go anywhere, Pipsqueak knew he'd need to come up with something else, and fast. Since the man's family had started work for the day, more trees than the cub could count had already been felled, and the Lorax was beside himself. It was nearing noon, when they'd be taking their lunch break, and so far Plan B could only dream of someday reaching its embryonic stage.

"What do you think, Lou?" Pipsqueak asked his best friend. The little cub was an extrovert with a wealth of friends of all ages, but for some reason he tended to prefer the company of adults.

Although Pipsqueak had been watching the human "camp"'s goings-on from atop one of the still unchopped trees near the setup, Lou had been more focused on munching on the tree's wares, and so took a moment to realize his pal had inquired something of him.

"Hmm?" Was all he could reply, so stuffed was his mouth.

"About the Once-ler's folks." Pipsqueak clarified.

Confused, the older Bar-ba-loot responded, when he was able, "Uh, sorry, I wasn't thinking anything about them. I was wishing these seeds were more like those marshmallows." He glanced down at a few he'd spat out while devouring their sweet, juicy encasements.

Though it risked straying from the topic he wanted to explore, Pipsqueak had to agree, that would be the new definition of a perfect world.* "No Lou, I was just thinking; it's not actually the Once-ler chopping these trees down. It's just them!" He pointed to where the others were whacking away at the trunks of the precious trees with an almost maniacal fervency.

It was true, the Once-ler had not, at least as far as anyone had seen, wielded an axe against one of the trees since he'd given the green light on the matter to his kin the day before. Since breakfast, he'd mostly become one with his knitting, a little with reviewing the weird drawings he'd made on that blue paper, and here and there a few routine chores. With the exception of Pipsqueak's failed intervention that morning, had the Once-ler even been outside today?

"Oh good!" Lou remarked happily, now watching them with Pipsqueak. "That must mean he didn't break his promise after all!" As though to celebrate, he went back to eating.

The little cub ate some of the fruit as well, but continued his vigil, certain that there was some important note to draw from this observance, but not quite sure what it was. As if on cue, the sound of tension expressed in vocal form began to rise from inside the nearby tent of the Once-ler's. In a moment it was easy to distinguish the voices of the man and the Lorax, although most of the dialogue was muffled by distance and closure of the surrounding atmosphere. It made Pipsqueak unhappy to hear what he could hear of it; he loved both the Once-ler and the Lorax, and much preferred it when they were getting along – or doing what _counted_ as getting along for them.

However long it went on for, the argument was cut short when one of the Once-ler's hands reached out the window in a beckoning gesture, accompanied by his voice calling in a sing-song way for his Aunt Grizelda.

A lot of funny names in that family, weren't there? Seeing who came to the windowside at his request, Pipsqueak shuddered. So Grizelda was that big scary one the Lorax kept confusing for a man. Pipsqueak didn't know why, it wasn't that hard to smell the difference between males and females, even with all that funny scented stuff they smothered themselves with.*

Now the Lorax was slipping out of the tent by way of another window altogether, gruffly dismissing himself. No wonder. Sailing through the air like one of the swans for a while had an undeniable thrill, but sometimes the landing just wasn't worth it.

/

Pipsqueak stared longingly at the human family, eating lunch together on their break. Humans always had such nifty things to eat, but that intangible _something_ about these people had so far kept him from trying to siphon any tidbits from them, like he would from the Once-ler. Speaking of which, said man was yet again inside at the moment. If he could just slip by them... well of course, that was unnecessary! There were lots of ways into the tent! How silly of him to let all this hard thinking lead him astray like that!

Inside, he found the Once-ler preparing some yellow-coloured liquid, crammed with ice cubes, in a jug. A very fresh aroma, different from Truffula fruit and yet of a faintly similar essence, filled the area and immediately vanquished any dark feelings those other humans had evoked in the cub.

Pipsqueak wandered casually over beside the man, and tugged on his trouser leg. Alerted, the Once-ler looked down at the cub, then smiled.

"Oh hey, Pipsqueak," he said, bending over and lifting the little one up onto the counter. "Wanna help me make this lemonade, huh?" Twiddling the cub's nose, he went on with his assumption, stating, "I don't know if Mom would care for that, little buddy. _But_," he deliberated, holding a finger up in a request for the cub to bear with him, "the Royal Chef _could_ perhaps use the help of a steward, to keep his reputation from going on the line. So to speak!" Picking up one of the cups generally used by the Humming fish – certain Pipsqueak wouldn't care either way – he poured up a portion of the liquid and extended it to his little friend. "How about it?"

Mmm, this drink smelled good! Pipsqueak immediately accepted it and began his "taste test".

"I thought you'd like the job!" The Once-ler smiled, satisfied. Watching the liquid disappear into the cub, who promptly licked his lips and held the cup out, he laughed. "I take it I've passed inspection. Alright, one more," he continued his playful tone, pouring a little bit more into the cup, before patting Pipsqueak and quickly making his way out to his family, a safeguard to ensure a sufficient quantity of the drink actually made it to them.

As Pipsqueak slurped his second helping of the yummy drink, it finally dawned on him. All this time the Lorax had been calling the _Once-ler_ out for breaking his promise, when it was his _family_ doing all the chopping! If anyone needed to be reasoned with, it was them! It seemed kind of funny, that a being so old and wise would go after the wrong party like that. Well, now that Pipsqueak had the problem de-tangled, it was just a matter of finding the forest guardian and running this by him.

Finishing the lemonade, he snuck down from the counter and waddled his way over to the door, which it seemed the Once-ler had thoughtfully left open for him. The sound of a moderate ruckus close at hand made him turn his gaze in the direction of the humans, and he gasped upon seeing one of the Once-ler's brothers feverishly juggling several dreadfully dizzy-looking Humming fish, while the other cheered him on with a matching excitement. The Once-ler was cautiously trying to dissuade them from this cruel practice, while the older members of the family looked to be taking an unnervingly passive stance on the matter.

Pipsqueak was horrified by the sight. The poor fish were so unhappy, and no wonder! The twins were now playing an extremely rapid toss-and-exchange game with the fish; face to face, their hands together formed a rectangular current for their scaled quarries, with terrifying alacrity. Although the Once-ler was now begging them to stop, it appeared he was afraid to go any closer than a foot or so away from them. Pipsqueak didn't blame the man; being their brother he guessed that he had a lot more experience with their rough-playing than any of the forest creatures.

Well, as scary as they were, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing, could he? Swallowing his nervousness, Pipsqueak crept over towards them, trying to think of some distraction he could give, without getting himself hurt in the process. Then, all of a sudden, one of the women – their mother – sat upright in the chair she'd been lounging in hitherto, and called rather sharply at her sons to stop playing and get back to work. To his relief, they did stop, although replacing the fish on the ground proved no kinder a gesture than their idea of playing.

"You guys okay?" Pipsqueak asked, rushing over to the fish once there were no human feet in their proximity.

Groaning, one of them answered, gazing upward, "Oh gee, I never knew the sky could be so... _swirly_!"

Pipsqueak's concern for his friends had to be put on hold in a moment, however, when the pounding of those bullying men's feet on either side of their little group brought him to realize that the tree-hacking was about to start up again. Acting on sheer spur-of-the-moment, he ran after the men, yelling at them to stop as loud as he could. If they couldn't understand his language, they could at least pick up on the emotion, right?

Without really considering what he was doing, the cub scampered up the trunk of a tree just seconds away from being struck by a blade. Luckily, he was several inches above where it was to meet its mark; perish the thought of what might have happened otherwise... Still running on adrenaline, the cub leaped down onto the axe, scurrying along till he was perched atop the wrists of its wielder, whereupon he began to tug and paw at the man's fingers, doing whatever he could to undo that grasp on the lethal tool. The entire time, his frantic wailing and hollering never stopped for even a moment's breath.

If nothing else, this impressive act of berserkery did succeed in delaying the twins' tree-cutting progress. Neither the one Pipsqueak was trying desperately to pry the axe from nor the other were able to do more than stare, mouths agape, project long forgotten.*

He was too focused on what he was doing to hear the mother calling out to someone to get the "bear" out of the way, seeing as he was holding them up.* He only vaguely recognized the gentle, elegant hands which wrapped around him shortly after. He continued screaming, pawing in the direction of the Once-ler's brothers, furiously ranting demanding words the humans would never know he was directing at them, all the while the only one of them who seemed even moderately decent carried him out of their reach, and away into one of the shaded groves nearby.

**AN: In all truth, this chapter ended a lot more dramatically than I expected, but it just seemed right to put the stop sign there. So as of this chapter, we can rule out the "Tie yourself to a tree trunk approach" as the one that's going to prove effective. In other news, it's still unwise to stare directly at the sun. Cue the typical list of explanatory notes:  
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**1. The only problem with marshmallows and Truffula seeds being synonymous is, if that were the case, between the Once-ler's and the animals' appetites for them, no new trees would EVER get planted!**

**2. Since Bar-ba-loots resemble flesh-and-blood teddy bears, I'm figuring they'd be likely to have very competent olfactory senses like real bears.**

**3. If only we could draw from this that Pipsqueak has achieved even a modicum of success, at least when influencing Brett and Chet. If not, at least he bought a modicum of time for the trees in that immediate area...**

**4. When I was writing this, it reminded me of a line from one of the most iconic scenes in the Disney film, _The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh_. Most likely the Once-ler's mother vs. Gopher from that franchise is not a character comparison most would think of, but that's what I actually like best about the way I worded that sentence!**

**Last but not least, I would like to thank Sixty-four K for their kind review of the first chapter. It's a bit surprising that this premise has not had more exploration, but then, what more motive is needed to fill in the void? :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I am so glad I finally got this chapter finished. It was a little difficult to convince myself, for a while there, that the characters were true to themselves, but I think I've got it. Now Pipsqueak is finally going to talk things over with the Lorax, but he's in for a couple of surprises along the way.**

By the time the Once-ler had carried Pipsqueak a satisfactory distance from his family's work zone, the baby Bar-ba-loot was finding it very hard not to cry. Mostly, this was out of a shock to his system, understandable when considering how unprecedented his impassioned behaviour from moments ago was.

The man knelt down and set the cub on the soft grass, stroking his head gently. "You okay, buddy?"

Watery-eyed and trying to regulate his presently overactive respiratory system, the cub looked back at him. With what the Once-ler had just witnessed Pipsqueak doing, maybe now he could get the message that he didn't want this tree-cutting to go on any more than the Lorax did. Pointing back in the direction they'd come from, where it was still easy to see the mortifying sight of Truffula trees crashing over even from this far away, he whimpered and crept over to his friend's lap, wrapping his paws around a thigh and glancing up pleadingly.

The man bit his lower lip, brows furrowed in a concerned manner. Just when it seemed he was impossibly out of touch, his gaze softened, and he said, "Aw look, don't go all crazy about the trees like old Moustache. It's _okay_, I mean we're not planning on chopping the whole forest down!" He motioned around the two of them for effect. "We're just... we just need to cut a _few_ down. It's all simply a matter of business, Pipsqueak." The man shrugged.

The more involved Pipsqueak became in this debate on deforestation, the more he was coming to resent that word, "business", which seemed to define what was behind all this conflict. He couldn't say this to the Once-ler in a way he'd comprehend, so he summarized his feelings with a frown.

"Look, I'm not expecting you to get the whole scope of this, but I'm on the verge of making it big time, you know?" He stood up as he continued. "I mean, this is what I came here to do, in the first place! And all my work's finally starting to pay off! People are ordering thneeds faster than we can make them! Just look what they've paid in advance!" Caught up in his excitement, the Once-ler drew out a large bundle of cash he was keeping on him out of sheer pride. "_This_, this just happens to be the most I've ever made in only five minutes, Pipsqueak! And it's not going to stop there, either! Now if I'm being realistic about it, it's _probably_ going to take a few months at the very least, but by then I'll have enough saved to start on -"

A jaded expression came over the little cub's face as he watched his friend prattle on and on about his plans for getting his business to take flight. There was some quality about his whole demeanour which had gradually made itself known, as he was talking; something which put Pipsqueak at ill ease. He wasn't sure if it was a change in the way the Once-ler's eyes gleamed, or if it was something in the way he was smiling or the tone of his voice, but for the time being it was not hard, even with similarity of scent out of the equation, to draw a familial connection between this man and his relatives.

Unable to take it any more, Pipsqueak squealed and jerked on the man's trousers, as if to shake off this strange side to him and summon back the man he loved and trusted so much. To his relief, the Once-ler did snap out of it. Looking back down at the Bar-ba-loot, he shrugged again, and said, "Anyhow, case in point, we just can't afford not to pick the pace up. I mean, what do you expect me to do?" He wished the cub would not look at him like that, for it made him feel as though he were speaking to -

"I can _not_ be seeing this!"

Perfect timing. Right on cue.

Both the Once-ler and Pipsqueak turned to face the Lorax, one groaning in dread of another time-consuming protest/lecture, the other grateful, after that spine-tingling moment, that a familiar and comforting presence was here.

"Hello, Moustache," the Once-ler said in a low, annoyed tone.

Arms folded, the forest guardian ignored the hollow greeting and stated his point, "So breaking your promise wasn't enough, huh? Now you're actually trying to brainwash the animals into going along and accepting all your 'important business big-wig garbage'?"

Shocked at the accusation, the man replied, "What? No! Why would I want to brainwash anyone – look, all I did was try to explain to him why - and hey, for that matter it is NOT garbage -"

He was interrupted when Pipsqueak suddenly ran over to the Lorax, excitedly garbling something. Whatever it was about, the Lorax answered in a scolding manner, "I'll get to _you_ later, Pipsqueak." Maybe he knew about how Pipsqueak almost got himself axed a short while ago. He was now focusing on the Once-ler again, glaring as he said, "As for you -"

Oh, here it was. That awful yada-yada about no tree-chopping and preserving nature, and his business being no good. Well not this time. He had a breaking point, and he'd be damned if he'd let the orange creature push him to it. So saying, he told him to "save it", and abruptly left the scene.

Pipsqueak, meanwhile, tried to engage the Lorax's attention again, for although he sensed that there was a huge lecture in store for him as well, he also had to get it through to the being that he was after the wrong person on the tree-cutting deal. To his frustration the Lorax didn't even pay him any regard this time, instead dogmatically chasing after the Once-ler until they were both out of hearing range. The cub scowled with impatience, wondering whether it would be better to follow after the guardian or to wait here for him to come back.

"Hey, Pipsqueak?"

The cub was drawn out of his options review when he heard his name called. The fish he'd tried to rescue were approaching him, wearing utterly impressed expressions.

"Thanks for trying to help us back there!"

"Yeah, and the trees. You were awesome, kid!"

"Yeah, the Lorax should have seen you, you were great!"

Still a bit overwhelmed by the event, Pipsqueak could hardly do more than blush as they hummed his praise, but at the mention of the Lorax his face fell a bit. "I think he already knows, actually. He wasn't very happy about it either." Talk about this event inspired him to relate to the fish about what he'd been learning about the situation so far, and how he hoped to persuade the Lorax when he returned to lecture him. After all, postponing his revelation as long as he had had allowed his excitement to grow to the point where he was busting at the seams, and as an afterthought it might be kind of helpful to have some backup in case he couldn't get the ancient being to listen.

/

If Pipsqueak had never felt like a complete failure before, he did now. There was no way around it, that was just the automatic effect on one's self esteem when this sort of thing – going from feeling like you've lead a major problem right to the door of resolution, only to find the person metaphorically expected to open the door won't answer your knock – happened. Was this how the Once-ler felt when that thneed thing of his didn't take off at the start? Poor guy.

The cub still didn't understand exactly what the Lorax saw wrong with the change of approach, as he'd outlined it. It seemed so simple to the cub: When a certain party is causing a problem, they are the ones you have to make stop. Not another party you already got to stop, who has not in fact started up again. Yet according to old Uncle Lorax, there was more to it than that.

There was nothing surprising about the fury the Lorax exhibited when he finally confronted Pipsqueak about the danger he'd placed himself in earlier; although Pipsqueak couldn't read, it essentially might as well have been carved in stone that that was going to happen. If he wasn't such a good little cub at heart, he might even have been amused at the way Uncle Lorax's temper had short-circuited – particularly during his rant about "waltzing into the midst of those axe-happy yokels" - but knowing that beneath that anger was extreme disappointment only made him feel ashamed.

That was, of course, until after he'd obediently bided the course of the reprimand, and then presented his piece. The fish had held approving opinions on the suggestion, and obviously Pipsqueak thought it one of the best ideas he'd ever had, but what did Uncle Lorax have to say on it?

"Pip," he'd sighed, "I'm glad you wanna help, really, but there's a lot to the situation you don't understand."

That was it? No "Gee, Pipsqueak, you're a genius, kid! Can't believe I didn't think of that!", or anything? Not even being re-designated as an Honourary Lorax? Wait, he was supposed to not want that, though he couldn't completely recall why.*

"But, what else is there, Uncle Lorax?" Pipsqueak asked him. "He's not chopping the trees, they are!"

"Yeah, but they wouldn't be if he hadn't let them, okay?"

"But you're the one in charge of the trees; don't you have more say than the Once-ler?"

The Lorax took a deep breath, working out how best to relate this to the young Bar-ba-loot. "Alright, it goes like this, Pipsqueak. You've seen what happens when I try to talk to his relatives, right?"

Actually, aside from the Once-ler, the only one of them Pipsqueak had seen Uncle Lorax speak directly to was Aunt Grizelda. In spite of himself, the memory of the Flying Lorax episode brought a series of happy quakes over his figure.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. 'Uncle Lorax being used to score a home run' is the most hilarious thing you've ever seen!" The Lorax rolled his eyes.

Well, maybe not the most hilarious thing, but it would earn a respectable position on the list. "But what about the others? The Once-ler's brothers do more chopping than any of the rest of them!"

"Uh-huh, and aside from hacking at the trunks of Truffulas like they're jungle vines, what else have they come to be known in this forest for?" The Lorax stared pointedly at Pipsqueak, waiting for him to draw the parallels.

The cub did not take long to do so. Similarly to their aunt, those men played rough in the extreme – actually, it was even worse with them; they'd do it without provocation and for fun, not just to emphasize a point. Of all the tendencies to run in a family...

However, he pointed out that that still left the Once-ler's mother and his uncle, but the Lorax considered them to be no more likely prospects than their ilk. He explained to Pipsqueak that from what he'd observed of them, the Once-ler's uncle, though arguably the "nice one" of the group, was also weak-natured and submissive where the family was concerned. A lot like his nephew, though the guardian didn't say this out loud.* And his mother was the one who'd driven the Once-ler to give a thumbs-up on cutting down the trees again; she was, if possible, even more money-hungry and shortsighted than her son. On top of that, her temper obviously never got a growth spurt.

Pipsqueak was still reluctant to budge from the optimistic outlook he had over this concept. He knew the Once-ler's temper was far from inexhaustible, but it also wasn't hard to establish a rapport with him. Surely the same could be done with his mother if they played their cards right? And even if the tree-chopping _was_ happening at her son's beck and call, if he was only allowing it, in turn, for her, then all they had to do was convince her of how bad this was! Then she'd tell him she changed her mind, and by all logic he'd change his mind as well!

The Lorax kept trying to interject as Pipsqueak went on elaborating this adjustment to his idea, but when he started to say, "And just to make sure, we could _all_ go talk to her, like we did with him, and then she'd -"

"_ENOUGH_, Pipsqueak!"

Stunned into silence, the cub waited. After a pause, the Lorax went on, "That ain't gonna happen, now or ever. I made it plain as day for Beanpole, and I'm making it plain as day for you, no one, but me, is going near these humans any more. Understand?"

Pipsqueak's jaw forgot how it was supposed to be aligned. These humans? But that couldn't... that just couldn't include...

"Including him, kid. He's not gonna approach you or the others, and you sure as heck ain't gonna approach him. Or them," he added to really stress his seriousness.

Almost inaudibly, Pipsqueak whispered, "But Uncle Lorax -"

"Forget it, kid," the guardian said, not quite so severely but still firm. "Don't get me wrong, I _am_ proud that you want to take a stand, but I'm just as much in charge of you and the other animals as I am for the trees, and frankly it doesn't look good for a forest guardian to let his charges get sliced up and bludgeoned trying to do his work for him."

Crestfallen, that was the word for Pipsqueak's mood now. A disappointed guardian, an unresolved conflict that seemed on the brink of relief just minutes ago, and now on top of it all he wasn't even allowed to see his friend anymore.

Although the Lorax felt bad for the cub, his mind was made up; his safety had to come first. Therefore, with a heavy heart, he made Pipsqueak promise to avoid the Once-ler's camp from now on; he would soon relay this to the other animals as well. Unbeknownst to the guardian, however, a rather "fishy"-looking chorus had kept a diligent watch over this conversation, and independently resolved to become a stepping stone in an alternative to the aborted approach their little Bar-ba-loot friend had been so sure would succeed.

**AN: So is that it? Plan C of "Operation: Prevent the forest's destruction" is just going to be scrapped? Or could it still work, with just a slight tweak here and there? Anyway, now we're finally seeing the other animals start to come into the project as well, which hopefully means the operation's adaptability and ultimately its chances of success will improve, with more minds at work! In the meantime, I will explain those notes I made:  
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**1. A reference to the short, "Forces of Nature". Personally, if it had been me, seeing the Lorax fluff up after being drenched with a hose would not have put me off of being an Honourary Lorax.**

**2. As it's been pointed out by a lot of fans of the film, the Once-ler looks remarkably out-of-place with his family, and even bears many significant personality differences from them. Still, if you squint and view the image on its side, you'll notice there are a few, ever-so-subtle ties between some of his more vice-like traits and theirs; these were some of the most noticeable ones I've recognized.  
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**I would like to thank everyone who's reviewed the story so far; it can't be said, or read, too many times just how supportive good feedback is for progress! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**For a while there it felt like I would never get this chapter done. A few components had been long-standing in draft form, and the major delay was figuring out how to fit in the further developments I'd since made to those concepts, and then reconcile it all with the story. I'm glad that I finally solved the dilemma, because this is where the other animals really become involved in the struggle to protect their environment. Pipsqueak doesn't feature in this chapter beyond mentioning, because it's focusing on the others right now, but I intend to bring him back in the next one.**

Even though the Lorax intended to keep all of the animals of the Truffula valley away from the human family's camp, it soon became clear that the animals had other ideas. Pipsqueak was already bound by oath not to go near the humans anymore, but the Humming fish in whom he'd confided, who thoroughly agreed with his motion that the animals needed to do something to help protect their forest, were determined not to let the cub's hard work go to waste. Before the Lorax could force the rest of the animals to promise to avoid the humans, they thereby set out spreading word of the concept as far as they could.

The general interest of the forest community was most definitely piqued by the story of what the baby Bar-ba-loot had been up to. Those especially close to him had been more than shocked upon hearing of his run-in with Brett and Chet; Pipsqueak's parents had almost had a fit in fact, but at the same time his courage and conviction gradually began to spark inspiration, along with admiration amongst all of them.

One thing the fish made clear, however, was that everyone had to avoid letting the Lorax order them to keep their distance; they couldn't even allow him a chance to bring the subject up. This sounded like a feat easier said than done, but when someone pointed out that the guardian was at this moment approaching their circle, necessity proved itself the mother of invention yet again.

Just as the Lorax was raising his paws to signal the animals' attention, one of them called, off the top of their head, "Tag everyone! The Lorax is It!" In seconds everyone clued in and scattered in all directions, and the forest guardian was left stopped in his tracks, paws never having altered their position.

The Lorax saw nothing unusual about this impromptu community game; such things were anything but uncommon in the Truffula valley, but he found it more than a tad annoying that it began right when he was about to deliver an important speech to the animals – unaware that this was precisely the whole aim behind it, of course.

For the most part following the object of the game was effortless enough, and at times some found it easy to forget the serious undertone in the thrill of the moment, but here and there a challenge arose which would remind them to stay on their toes. One such instance occurred with Lou, who despite putting his all into it, was not exactly what you'd call a runner, and did not take long to wear down. This, it seemed, called for a sizable portion of atmospheric suspense, as everyone still in Lou's vicinity momentarily ceased climbing up or diving in and around the foliage, watching in sympathetic dismay as he was faced with the mercy of a gaining Lorax.

Fortunately, about half a dozen swans came to the rescue, and the "danger" was... _sort of_ averted. While the Lorax, who was by now a little more invested in the game (as well as seriously regarding it as a game of tag), protested that that was essentially "cheating", the swans were more busied with the problem of holding onto their Bar-ba-loot burden, who was unquestionably a far-cry from carrying a little cub. A quarter of a minute proved that six swans weren't enough to keep Lou airborne, and though it was through no intent of theirs, the poor fellow circumstantially embarked on an ill-equipped skydive into the forest below.

As the dismayed swans flew down to make sure their fallen passenger was alright, the game otherwise went on, mostly uneventful, till nightfall, and thankfully with the Lorax's message undelivered. Now, with both the forest guardian and the humans asleep, the animals could get down to business.

At first their midnight meeting consisted merely of a relay of what was already known about the situation, for they all needed to be on the same page in order to formulate the next step. Of all the details they covered, the one which seemed to stand out the most was that the Once-ler's mother had been the one to convince her son to ignore his promise. This was, after all, one of the first details Pipsqueak and his playmates had picked up on, and also had been reaffirmed by the Lorax.

"Then Pipsqueak's probably right, and we should try to get her to change her mind," someone said.

"I dunno, that woman gives me the creeps," another piped up. "Has anyone else noticed that thing she always wears around her neck? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that used to be someone... if you know what I mean."

There was a moment of silence. In fact, surprisingly few of the animals had noticed that the woman wore a stuffed dead creature around her neck, but with this grisly information brought to the fore... well suddenly she seemed far less approachable than before.

One of the fish then pointed out, "Well, then again, isn't she usually the one who gets her other sons to stop playing around with us? I mean, they only stopped throwing _us_ when she told them to, today, and she also got them to stop throwing you guys around when they first showed up," the speaking fish motioned to the Bar-ba-loots as he said this.

Everyone mulled over this for a moment. For a woman who treated the deceased as clothing, she _had_ technically helped several of the forest inhabitants out of those rough encounters with her sons. And it was clear she was one of the top authorities in the Once-ler's family, and apparently the one who had the most influence over him. In the end that was enough to decide them. Somehow, in the hopes that it were possible, they would have to appeal to the woman, and try to garner her sympathy. A heart-to-heart was obviously out of the question, but there were other ways to befriend a human, and if they were lucky that would be enough.

/

First the Bar-ba-loots made their move on the woman. Penetrating the monstrous, looming structure of that RV when extended to its fullest wasn't nearly as easy as it was to get inside the Once-ler's home, and there would have been a lot more navigation required once inside, but as if by the genius of fate, it was into the trailer that Lou had landed that afternoon, the swans who'd dropped him following close behind. As all of the humans had been working at the time, no one was inside, and the Lorax was unlikely to find them there either, so the animals had felt secure in exploring the place a bit, now that they were inside. Along with finding some very nifty novelties amongst the family's food stash - "Wow, the Once-ler never has all these things!" Lou had marveled, taking the liberty of raiding a potato chip bag, a couple boxes of cookies, and a large fruit bowl in the kitchenette* – they also developed a basic understanding of where some of the key places within the RV were, including the sleeping quarters. So this time, it did not take terrifically long to determine which part of the vehicle was specifically the Once-ler's mother's place to hunker down for the night.

Granted, they didn't know the first thing about how humans made these extremely structural nests, but the sheer idea that so many rooms and passages could be incorporated into a convertible vehicle like this still struck the animals as surreal.

When they had established a clear sense of where to find her, they then proceeded on the second part of their plan. By now it was approaching dawn, and the humans were likely to wake up soon. About the only way of offering peace that the Bar-ba-loots were aware of was to gather fruit from the Truffula trees, to present to the party it was hoped that peace could be achieved with, so the lot of them snuck into the woman's quarters with as many fruits as they could carry, each. There would have to be something seriously wrong with her if she couldn't be bought with all these!

The Once-ler's mother lay snoring in bed, a mint-green face mask attempting to block out the years from showing on her skin. As she lay on her side, facing out towards the animals, they carefully slid the majority of the fruits up onto the bed beside her. What they couldn't get up there, they left for her to find around her slippers.

As if on cue, her alarm clock sounded, and she groggily rolled over to turn it off. With her face down, she was caught off guard by a cool, juicy mush which invaded her complexion.

"What the -" she sat up, taking in the Truffula mulch half squished into her pillow and covers, half squished onto herself. Exclaiming in disgust, she leaped out of bed, feet searching for her slippers, only to form and thereby slip in more mulch.

Judged by her salty language, this did not appease her in the slightest. The Bar-ba-loots, looking on, had a feeling this was not going to work after all. Especially not when she saw them, and started yelling at the "filthy bears" to get out, grabbing whatever random object she could and swinging it at them. So, this pretty much proved there _was_ something seriously wrong with the woman, in any case, but now was definitely not the time to reflect on this, as everyone was far too busy trying to dodge the angry woman's strikes.

In the midst of the mother's game of whack-a-Bar-ba-loot, Lou somehow ended up inside the small closet in which she kept an almost comical over-stuffing of clothes and accessories, with the door closed behind him. True, this could lead to complications when he tried to leave again, but for the time being he wasn't too worried, as long as he wasn't anywhere where she could get at him. That was until, even in the closet's overall darkness, he got a faint glimpse of what a good part of her wardrobe was comprised of...*

Even after things quieted down at last, and the Once-ler's mother had left her "bedroom" to clean up and get set for the day, it took Lou a bit of time to recover enough from his shocking discovery in order to leave the closet and sneak outside again. When he reunited with his fellow Bar-ba-loots, they were all a bit flustered and disappointed with the outcome of that failed venture.

"Who's idea was it to give her such soft fruit, anyway?"

"She's a lady! You always give ladies the ripest fruits you can find."

"Yeah, that's just how it's done!"

"And anyway, how were we supposed to know she doesn't like Truffula fruit? Who'd ever guess that _anyone_ could dislike it?!"*

"Oh, hey, Lou!" They finally noticed him. "We were getting worried about you there!"

"What happened? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

Lou's blank, somewhat quivering expression did not undergo any adjustments, but if he could bring himself to speak at the moment he might have said, "Close enough!"

Well, that attempt may have been a bust, but the Swomee swans and Humming fish were up next; perhaps they'd have more success?

About the only way to "work their charms" that they could think of was a musical display – it was, after all, the most notable shared talent of the two species. For that matter, a song and dance collaboration between swans and fish should create even more of an impression than either group going it alone; if they dared say so, their mutual performances were nothing short of spectacular.

They waited a while before conducting their serenade; a little practice choreography beforehand couldn't hurt, and after what they'd heard had happened with the Bar-ba-loots, it might be wise to give the woman a chance to cool down again.

It was close to breakfast when the swans and fish were ready. With the day being off to a balmy start, the humans were dining outside again, which was actually quite an ideal arrangement relative to the performance the creatures were about to give. Being inside the RV would not have allotted sufficient space for the swans to do their aerial swerves and terpsichores.

Naturally, the human family was caught by surprise by the sudden swarm of fish and birds – the latter of which in fact caused a few of them to duck for cover, initially. They recovered soon enough, when they realized that the animals were not trying to swipe anything from them, or do anything _else_ of an overly invasive nature, but the little woodland musical they were being treated to maintained a hold on their attention.

"Oh, would y'all listen to that?" the Once-ler's mother remarked, smiling. "Who'd ever think a bunch of forest critters could be so melodic?"

Even as they continued performing, the swans and fish were now beaming, themselves. Good! That was just the sort of reaction they wanted her to give!

"Meh, too much noise if you ask me," Aunt Grizelda snorted. Okay, that wasn't so encouraging, but it still seemed they were on the right track. The woman they needed to create a good impression on was responding favourably, and furthermore the men all seemed equally captivated, as well. This alone would probably not lead to the tree-chopping coming to an end, but it was a good start, at any rate!

Or, then again, maybe not. Towards the end of their number, as the Humming fish and Swomee swans gathered together on the ground in intricately-laced clusters, finishing their harmonization in the process, a swan named Myrna just happened to notice something about the comestibles laid out on the little patio table everyone was seated around. Squinting, the female swan studied the several small cups, each holding a disproportionately large, speckled oval object atop. Easily the most horrifying thing to catch a swan's attention.

Shrieking, she squawked, "Wait a minute! Our EGGS! Hold everything! These monsters are eating our EGGS!"

Gosh, to describe the pandemonium which erupted among the Swomee swans when that observation had been shared! The majority of it is probably best left to the imagination, but to summarize: The swans, particularly the females (and moreso if they were expecting mothers who, for all they knew, may now be out their most recent eggs!), suddenly began to act like something out of the works of Alfred Hitchcock, the Humming fish were dumbstruck and horrified, though decidedly less active about it, and of course, the humans were alarmed by this sudden change in the birds' mood, and made a quick switch to the defensive. Just when it seemed like things were about to get indescribably ugly, a sharpish, bossy voice rang out, "ALRIGHT, TIME OUT! What the heck is going on here?!"

Well, neither the humans nor the animals could avoid feeling like students caught in a schoolyard fight, now.

**AN: I think we can all guess who's happened on to the scene! Their plan has gone from "bust" to busted! Not to worry, none of the animals are ready to give up just yet - though I'll bet the swans will be forever disenchanted with trying to form an unspoken peace treaty with the Once-ler's folks. Now, as for those asterisks:  
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**1. I just imagine the Once-ler as having relatively limited and simple food preferences, based on the food types associated with him in the film.  
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**2. Where there's one fur-based garment in an individual's wardrobe, there's likely to be others. Enough said.**

**3. Frankly, it's hard to blame the Once-ler's mother for getting so uptight about what happened with those fruits. If she really did dislike them altogether, however... well, to each their own, I guess.**

**Once again, I would like to thank everyone who's reviewed so far; 'tis ever-so reassuring! :)**


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